Mickadeit: No-warn party law challenged

Chapman University sophomore with the misdemeanor citation he received for allegedly hosting a "loud and unruly" party on Feb. 22. He fears a criminal conviction on his record. FRANK MICKADEIT, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Hunter Stutsman is far from the first Chapman student in the Old Towne neighborhood of Orange to get a visit from the cops about a noisy party. But he might be the first first-time offender to go to court to defend himself against a criminal charge for that offense and to risk having a conviction on his record.

That's because a city ordinance passed in December allows police to immediately issue a misdemeanor citation to a party host for allowing "loud and unruly" conduct. Under the prior ordinance, the police had to give a warning.

Criminalizing such a minor first-time offense seems Draconian to Orange Councilman Denis Bilodeau, the only one of the current five City Council members to vote against it.

"This is an outrageous overreach of government," says Bilodeau, who rents to Chapman students, although not in Old Towne. "We were told, 'Don't worry, police will use discretion.' I think 'discretion' is code for discrimination" against students."

The new Orange party ordinance blossomed in the waning days of Mayor Carolyn Cavecche's term. It was passed 3-2 at its first reading Nov. 27, with Cavecche, Tita Smith and Fred Whitaker in favor and Bilodeau and Jon Dumitru opposed. Then the council makeup changed, and the new council, with Smith as mayor, heard it Dec. 11. It passed its mandatory second reading 4-1, with new council members Mark Murphy and Mike Alvarez joining Smith and Whitaker to vote yes, and only Bilodeau voting no.

Partying in Old Towne had gotten to the point Whitaker said, that police were "herding hundreds down the street" in an attempt to control the situation. "It's every Thursday night, every Friday night, every Saturday night."

While Alvarez supported the ordinance, he expressed concern that "the city doesn't want to send the wrong message that it is heavy handed. ... The intent is to bring peace to the neighborhoods." A Chapman official also supported the ordinance.

City Attorney Wayne Winthers told the council that the warn-first system didn't appear to be enough of a deterrent. He did, however, say that he talked to police about the new law and not necessarily issuing a misdemeanor on the first visit.

Bilodeau contends that the ordinance as written doesn't allow for such discretion. It states: "Any violation ... of this code shall constitute a misdemeanor and shall be punished by" fines of $150, $250 and $500 for each successive offense.

Winthers told me that police discretion is still inherent in whether to cite in the first place. He says there have been about 60 people charged with misdemeanors under the ordinance both before and after the no-warning component was added. In two or three cases, charges were dismissed because he didn't feel he could prove the case, and in every other case the defendant agreed to plead guilty and it was reduced to an infraction.

Since the no-warn option has been in place, he said, police have had fewer calls for loud parties. "The deterrent factor is definitely in place," he told me Tuesday.

On a Friday, Feb. 22, Stutsman had some students over at the house he rents in the 100 block of North Cambridge. They were there to meet a shuttle bus his frat had hired to take them to where an actual party was going to be held in another part of town. About 40 kids were waiting, he said, all but a couple inside the house. "We weren't maxing out our stereo or anything," he says.

They had been there about a half-hour, he said, when about 10 p.m., as they were waiting for the bus to return for another load, police arrived and cited him.

Stutsman, a 19-year-old business student from Washington state, came to Bilodeau's attention when he wrote the city a letter in protest. As Bilodeau points out, even if Stutsman were to win, or the charge reduced to an infraction, he can no longer say on a job application that he has never been accused of a crime.

Stutsman has consulted one attorney, who advised him to plead to an infraction. Stutsman told me he'd rather not do that, and hopes to find a lawyer who wants to challenge the citation, and perhaps, as Bilodeau suggests, the ordinance itself.

"Now I have to fight the city, or it's on my record permanently," he told me. He's due in court April 24.

Mickadeit writes Mon.-Fri. Contact him at 714-796-4994 or fmickadeit@ocregister.com

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